I Love You, My Brother
by thegeekykitty
Summary: After Tails is seriously injured from his and Sonic's latest mission, Sonic can't help but blame himself for what happened. Sonic visits his beloved pal at the hospital to let him know that he's always there for him. Some Sonic/Tails brotherly fluff.


Sonic sat anxiously in the waiting room of a hospital. He tapped his feet on the hard tiled floor as he waited to see his best friend, Miles "Tails" Prower. Sonic had never felt like this before but that's because none of his buddies have ever been seriously injured close to death while battling the evil Dr. Eggman before.

It had been only a few hours ago when Sonic and Tails had gone to stop Dr. Eggman's latest scheme which had been a huge factory build off the coast of the local beach; Eggman's factory was not only building his usual deadly weapons there but the run off from the factory was contaminating the ocean, which could harm various sea life and likely anyone who was going for a swim. The duo had come just in time to destroy the giant factory and hopefully save any lives that were being threatened by the contaminants of the factory.

They had successfully launched the self-destruct program that was within the building but they had to hurry to get out before the place blew to bits. Sonic likewise was fast enough to make it through the collapsing building thanks to his speed, but Tails had not been so lucky this time. Right as Sonic had made it out of the falling factory, he saw that Tails was not standing next to him; fearing the worst he ran back into the building looking for his friend. To his horror, he found Tails crushed under pieces of debris, only his feet were visible. With all his strength, Sonic had managed to pull Tails out from the debris alive but barely. Sonic did not want to remember that awful image of Tails' heavily injured body, the blood leaking out of his head, the bruises across his back and stomach, and the look on his face, oh gosh that look on his face. His eyes had that blank stare to them and his face was a sickly purple color, signaling that if he did not get medical treatment soon he would likely die. Somehow Sonic had managed to carry Tails all the way to this hospital (likely through his desire to keep his friends safe); now all he could do was hope and pray that his friend would be alright.

A half hour had passed, Sonic still did not get any word from the medical staff on Tails' condition. He impatiently sat in the hard leather chairs in the waiting room, he stared at the many people who passed through the room. He hated hospitals, they just were not his cup of tea. They may be essential for helping the sick and injured but in all honesty they were just too depressing for his tastes.

"It's my fault" Sonic whispered somberly to himself, he slammed his fist down on the arm of his chair and cursed himself under his breath. "It was a mistake to bring Tails along for that mission" he murmured, he looked down to his feet. "If I had known that this would happen, I'd have never brought the little guy along. Darn it Sonic what were you thinking!" Sonic screamed, unfortunately he was yelling loud enough that the people in the waiting room could hear him ranting. Sonic realized everyone in the room was staring at him, he felt embarrassed to have made a scene like that. He smiled awkwardly and waved a little to everyone in the room then looked back down at his feet.

The front doors to the hospital opened at that moment. Sonic turned and saw his friends, Knuckles the Echidna and Amy Rose, walking over in his direction. "Sonic" said Knuckles as the two finally made it over. Sonic stood up to greet his two friends. "Hi guys" Sonic said glumly; Knuckles and Amy looked at their friend sympathetically. "We came as sound as we heard about Tails" Knuckles spoke up. "How is he?" Amy asked concernedly as she clasped her hands in front of her. Sonic looked at his friends seriously, "I don't know yet guys. The doctors haven't told me anything yet. But I know that he wasn't looking too good when they took him away." Knuckles and Amy looked sadly at their friend, "Oh I'm sorry Sonic" said Knuckles. The three sat down and waited for any news regarding their injured friend.

Another hour passed, still no word on Tails' condition. Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy sat worriedly in the waiting room chairs; Sonic paced his feet on the floor, Knuckles was looking up at the ceiling, and Amy was reading a magazine. The blue hedgehog continued to curse and blame himself for what happened to Tails. To him he was more than just his plucky sidekick and personal toolkit, he was his best friend in the world. No it was more than that, Tails was like a brother to him heck he was even like a son to him at times even though they were only 7 years apart. They were the only family they had for one another, Tails had no parents to look after him and Sonic never really knew his family to begin with so they completed each other. It was his sworn duty to protect him, if Tails were to die he'd never be able to forgive himself for this. A young female doctor with shoulder length light brown hair who appeared to be in her early thirties then came over towards the three. They immediately looked over at her ready to hear how Tails was doing though judging from her serious expression, it didn't look good. "How is he doc?" Sonic asked. The doctor cleared her throat; "His condition is still very unstable. But his life is no longer in danger, he has a couple of fractured ribs, a broken arm, and a head injury but other than that he's doing ok; all he needs now is some rest" said the doctor. Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy all let out a sigh of relief at the news "Thank heavens" said Amy. Sonic felt his tension ease up, thank goodness Tails was going to be ok. "Is it ok if we see him now?" asked Sonic. The doctor smiled brightly "Yes you may but please don't disturb him, he's resting now" she said firmly. The doctor then led the two hedgehogs and echidna to Tails' room just down the hallway and to the right.

The three made it to Tails' room, quietly they walked in. In the middle of the room lay Tails on a bed in a white hospital gown, the bottom of his face was covered in a breathing apparatus, in his right arm was the IV, to his left was the heart monitor which beeped slowly and rhythmically, and his head, chest, and left arm were wrapped in white gaze. The display looked very frightening to the three, though they had seen countless numbers of Eggman's horrifying robots and machines, the equipment at the hospital made Eggman's gadgets seem like baby toys. Knuckles and Amy stood back while Sonic walked up towards Tails' bed. He looked down sadly at where the unconscious double tailed yellow fox lay. 'Why of all people did this have to happen to Tails?' Sonic thought to himself, 'Why not me, I'm the one whose always risking his life to save whoever's in danger, so why does Tails have to suffer for my recklessness.'

Sonic hated to see his best friend in the shape he currently was in, he was just a child he didn't deserve to be laying comatose in a hospital bed he deserved to be out playing and having fun like a child should. Sonic pounded his fist on the bed's railing much to Knuckles' and Amy's worry, "Sonic" Amy spoke up concern in her voice. Sonic turned around towards his friends, both of them looking sympathetically at him. Knuckles walked over to Sonic "What ever happened, you shouldn't blame yourself for it. Things like this just happen" said Knuckles gently as he placed his hand on the hedgehog's shoulder. Sonic looked up at the red echidna, "I know Knuckles but still….I should've kept a better eye on the little guy then maybe he wouldn't have gotten hurt" said Sonic. "After all, Tails is practically my responsibility so I can't afford to have this kind of thing happen to him." Knuckles frowned at Sonic's despair, though the two often clashed with each other, they were still friends and Knuckles didn't like to see Sonic in a fog. The two both looked down at the floor when a stirring noise interrupted their thoughts. They turned and saw Tails was beginning to regain consciousness, slowly Tails' opened his eyes and moaned as his vision tried to refocus.

"S...Sonic, Knuckles" Tails said weakly. Sonic smiled and felt some relief at seeing his friend finally wake up. "Hey champ, how ya' feeling?" said Sonic softly but with that typical energy he always had. "I'm ok, but I'm in a lot of pain" said Tails, wincing a little as he talked. The young fox looked around at his surroundings seeing that he was in an unfamiliar environment. "Where….Where am I?" he asked, a cough coming out as he said that. Sonic looked serious at his friend, "You're in the hospital Tails. You got pretty banged up in that explosion at Eggman's factory so I brought you here. The doctors said you're gonna be fine" said Sonic, he held Tails' hand as he finished his sentence. Tails then remembered what happened last, he and Sonic were storming a factory set up by Eggman then they set the place to blow up; but last thing he remembered was getting separated from Sonic and then everything went black, his head hurt too much for him to want to remember anything. Amy slowly walked over towards the bed, "Hi Tails" she said softly. Tails weakly turned his head in her direction "Hi there Amy, how are you?" he asked her. The pink hedgehog smiled slightly though she was scared by the fox's broken shape, "I'm ok thank you" she replied. Sonic whispered something to Knuckles who then gestured Amy to the door, "We should probably leave them alone for a few minutes Amy" he said. The two walked out the door, Amy turned her head back at Sonic and Tails looking sadly.

Once Knuckles and Amy were out of the room, Sonic turned back to his injured buddy. The blue hedgehog sighed as he looked down at Tails; "Tails…I'm sorry for what happened. I shouldn't have brought you along then this might not have happened to you" said Sonic apologetically. Tails looked up at his older friend, he didn't understand what he was so sorry about. "It's ok Sonic. It's not your fault I'm hurt. After all, you saved me just in time, right?" the young fox said. Sonic seemed confused, how was Tails not angry with him for this? Yes he did save him in time but it was _because_ of him that he got hurt in the first place. If he had just kept him close while they were escaping the factory then this wouldn't have happened. "I know Tails, it's just…." Sonic paused as he tried to find the right words to say. Tails looked sadly at Sonic, he now understood why he was upset with himself. Sonic felt he was responsible for keeping him safe so because he was seriously injured during a mission, Sonic felt like he failed as a surrogate big brother. "Please Sonic..." Tails began, he coughed again as he spoke; "Don't blame yourself for my injuries. Stuff like this happens sometimes you know. It was still worth it because I got to help save the day with you like always" the young fox said smiling weakly. Sonic smiled a little at the young fox's enthusiasm, he was glad that Tails wasn't angry with him perhaps he was being too hard on himself; after all Tails was going to be ok. "That's good to hear Tails. You're sure you're not mad at me?" he still couldn't help but ask. Tails just smiled up the blue hedgehog, assuring him that everything was fine. "Alright Tails. You should probably go back to sleep so you can rest. I'll come back to see you again tomorrow, ok" said Sonic. Tails nodded his head "Ok, see ya' later Sonic" he replied then drifted off to sleep.

Sonic turned to leave the room but stopped and looked back at the sleeping yellow fox. He walked back over to Tails' bed then bend down by the little guy's head. He stroked his fur for a few seconds then kissed his forehead. "I love you, my brother" he whispered in Tails' ear, and then he turned back and left the room so his buddy could rest.


End file.
